The present invention generally relates to laser cutting devices used in the cutting of transparent material substrate, and more particularly to such devices and systems used to cut and finish edges of the transparent material substrate.
The area of laser processing of materials encompasses a wide variety of applications that involve cutting, drilling, milling, welding, melting, etc. and different types of materials. Among these applications is the cutting and/or separating of different types of substrates and in particular the separation of arbitrary shapes out of transparent materials.
From process development and cost perspectives there are opportunities to improve upon the cutting and separation of glass substrates. Among several alternative technologies, laser separation has been tried and demonstrated using different approaches. The techniques range from actual removal of material between the boundaries of the desired part or parts and its matrix, creation of defects within the bulk of the material to weaken or seed it with cracking initiation points along the perimeter of the desired profile followed by a secondary breaking step, and propagation of an initial crack by thermal stress separation.
While such laser cutting processes have demonstrated potential economic and technical advantages such as precision, good edge finish, and low residual stress, the edge finishing still results in the need to deburr and polish the edges in a separate process, and when a bevel is desired around the peripheral edge of the substrate, yet another process is required.